Google's upped its pace handing out invites to Google Voice, the service that controls all your phones with one number. For those just arriving, we're offering up a beginner's guide to setting up, transitioning to, bug-fixing, and actually enjoying Google Voice.

You've read about the features, you saw the invites going out, but you might be wondering…
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Once you accept an invite, register your number, and make your first text or phone call, you might be wondering how to go about actually using Google Voice—after all, nobody's calling you on that number just yet, and your number doesn't have any rules set up to begin with. That's where this guide starts off. There are lots of resources that explain how Google Voice's features work, but we're hoping to help you learn how to get people calling that number, work past the flaws in its system, and manage the callers for a better overall phone experience.

The Psychology of Number Switching

Until Google Voice lets you make a full-scale import of your existing phone number to their service, you'll have to pick an area code, remember a new number, and ask people who call you to use that number. But trust us, it's not as hard as it seems these days. Two of your Lifehacker editors have done it, and all it took was a little small group psychology.

Be firm: If you want Google Voice to be your universal phone hub, everybody has to call it. Don't be namby-pamby when you send out the mass email or mention it in conversation—this is your new number, not some experiment or trial or such. Is there any risk, however small, that a big project like Google Voice will go under and you'll have to send a red-faced follow-up request? Yes. Is there that same risk with Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail, Twitter, and Facebook? Yes. Say it's your new number, and say it's your only number. For those who don't follow-up, there's a next step:

The catch-all voicemail: Call your cell phone voicemail number and head into the options to record a new voicemail. Say that you won't be retrieving voicemail on it and list your new number. Even if you do check that voicemail once or twice for the first two weeks, don't let anybody know that. It's a hard line, but it pays off, and you'll probably be getting back to people quicker soon enough.

The stragglers: Some folks just don't want to edit their contact lists, and others feel like they'll catch you quicker if they've got your direct line. Don't take their calls. Call them back from your Google Voice number, through the Google Voice web site (explained later on), or by calling your Google Voice number from your standard phone and dialing them from there. They'll either take the hint and spend the 30 seconds to update, get lazy and start calling your Google Voice number from their Recent Calls list, or get used to having their messages returned at your convenience. Photo by jessicafm.

Dealing with annoyances

Changing your phone life will, of course, come with its share of kinks. Here are a few of them, and how you can sidestep the worst side effects. Note: The first two can be mostly avoided with Google Voice apps for smartphones, like GV for Android and GV Mobile for iPhones.

Text message replies: When Google Voice delivers your text messages to your phone, they arrive from a completely new phone number, although with a contact's name attached if you have it stored. Replying to that message is easy, but to compose a new message to that person and have it show up as being from your Google Voice number, you'll have to add that phantom Google Voice SMS number to their contact, perhaps under an "Other" phone. You can, of course, send and respond to texts from Google Voice's web site, and its mobile site works great from phone browsers, but when you're not near a computer or a net connection, this is the way to enforce your One Number.

Call-backs: Unlike text messages, Google Voice doesn't provide a magic call-back number to avoid re-introducing your "old"/carrier number to contacts. If Voice's mobile or desktop web sites are accessible, you have to call into your Google Voice number, hit 2 to place a call, then enter the number you're calling back. That's a pain in the rear, and even more so if you don't feel comfortable setting your cell phone to not require a PIN when you call Google Voice.

If you're calling certain contacts all the time and want the calls to go through Google Voice, you could search to see how to insert one- or two-second pauses into a phone number in your phone's address book. Then create an "Other" number for them that consists of your Google Voice number, then a pause, then "2," then a pause, then that contact's actual phone number, followed by a "#". That automates the Google Voice dialing, leaving you with just a bit of a wait while it goes through.

That slight voice latency: As previously mentioned, there's a variable amount of audio delay when routing calls through Google Voice. Sometimes it's hardly noticeable, but other times, you seem more rude than you really are. Being patient is the obvious, but best, coping mechanism. If you sense there's a good second or so lagging in your connection, simply let them finish out their entire thought before jumping in with your own. From experience, trying to time yourself slightly ahead of the end of their sentence simply makes you a bad listener, and it's hard to pull off.

Form your groups

Not every caller is the same. Your parents, spouse, siblings, best friends, business partners, and other VIPs can probably call whenever and you'd like to pick it up. Your over-sharing co-worker, friends who like to call from bars, and pushy sales reps of all kinds, though—they can go straight to voicemail. And what if you like being short and snappy with your friends, but need a more professional-sounding voicemail greeting for potential clients?

Google Voice's Groups let you create multiple pools of people from your Google Contacts. If you didn't have any Google Contacts set up before, you will now, just by making and receiving calls. To create new groups or add and remove people from existing groups, hit the "Contacts" link in the left-hand toolbar of the Google Voice site, then select or search out names from the vertical scroll, then hit "Groups" to manage which pools they fall into.

To change what happens when a Group member calls, head to Settings, then Groups, then click "Edit" next to the groups that need special rules. You can set which phones ring, what greeting someone hears, and whether you want to "ListenIn" and have Google Voice read their name to you on calling, so you can decide whether to talk or let them ring through to voicemail.

If you've only got a few different folks who you want to have non-standard rules for, you can do that without having to come up with a clever group name. Select their name from your Contacts, click the "Edit Google Voice Setting" link under their contact information, and you can tweak greetings, where they ring to, and whether you see their call or not.

Tweaking call rules

Google Voice's killer app is allowing you to keep one phone number, but have it route to multiple phones the way you want. Here's how to save money, avoid annoyances, and get more out of Google Voice's custom calling rules.

After signing up with Google Voice, you'll probably have at least your cell phone set up with the service, under a new number. It's pretty easy to add a new phone—click on "Settings" in the upper-right corner, then hit the "Phones" tab and click "Add another phone." After entering your number and verifying, you'll have a new entry in your Phones list you can set rules for. Click Edit next to a phone, then "Show Advanced Settings," to set up when these phones ring,

Here are a few calling rules you can use as templates for customizing how Google Voice handles your calls.

Cell minute saver: If you've got any other kind of phone at home, or you don't mind routing certain friends and family to your office, you can have those other phones ring at the same time when your cell minutes are "regular," i.e. tracked by the minute. You could theoretically set your cell phone not to ring during day hours, but that would cut you off from calls you want to take when you're mobile.

What you want to do is set your non-cellular phones to not ring between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. (or whenever your cell plan goes "free" and when you're okay taking calls). On weekends, adjust those hours to whenever you're likely to be home. If you share one of those landlines with other people, create a group of the people you wouldn't want to bother your spouse/roommate/relatives and set them to ring directly to your cell phone at all times.

Whitelist your ring-throughs: Google Voice provides pretty good caller ID, and you can easily ignore a call and check the transcription to see if that unrecognized number had something good to say. You can do one better, though, by having unrecognized callers go right to voicemail.

Head first to the "Phones" section, and un-check your phones so your Google Voice number no longer "forwards to" by default. Don't worry, you're not actually losing connectivity! Head to the Contacts section and choose the callers for your trusted group by selecting them individually, or clicking another group like "My Contacts" and hitting Select: All, then hit the "Groups" button to add them to a group named "White list" or "People I Know," or something similar. Head to Groups, click Edit on that white list, then re-select the phones you want them to have access to.

Google Voice provides other default options for every caller in its settings: "Do Not Disturb," which sends every call to voicemail and doesn't forward text messages; "Call Presentation," which asks callers to record their name for you to hear when they call from an unrecognized number; and "ListenIn," which lets you listen as a caller you chose to ignore records their voicemail. Those options, however, seem a bit severe and all-or-nothing compared to a white list that's not too hard to add or subtract to. Photo by Ed Yourdon.

Mumblers, speed-talkers, and hanger-uppers: Sometimes, Google can't even try to understand what certain folks in your voicemail are trying to say, and some really impatient people leave empty voicemails. That could defeat one of Voice's great strengths, the SMS/email voicemail notice you don't have to call for. In this case, we're pulling out the secret weapon—honesty.

Head to Contacts and move everybody who tends to talk softly, quickly, or not at all into a group, or select them individually and change their greeting to a custom version. Name it "Transcription Reminder," and record a custom greeting. Don't patronize, but tell them that their voicemail is being transcribed, and to speak slowly "so I don't miss anything."

Formal/informal voicemail greetings: This one's easy, and fun. Head to Settings, then Groups. Click "Edit" under any contact group that should get a longer, more professional-sounding greeting ("You've reached the voicemail of Dr. Venkman. Your call is very important to me ..."), or make that the default. Set up your friends and family, however, to hear just a short message to save on their cell minutes and patience.

Google Voice pros, what psychological or technical tactics have you used to make Google Voice work for you? What's been the hardest bug to deal with? For the insiders and not-yet-invited alike, what kind of filters or features would you like to see added or changed? Tell us everything in the comments.